


not a movie, but it's fantasy

by ratherbeblue



Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-04 23:04:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18822583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratherbeblue/pseuds/ratherbeblue
Summary: The cards hadn’t been too specific, but there was one thing he was keeping from his friend.It wasn’t just something special that the cards said would be revealed tonight, but rather something special to do with love.





	not a movie, but it's fantasy

**Author's Note:**

> Your fingertips, I wanna touch 'em  
> Oh dear, how I fell in love so easily  
> Moments like this aren't forgettable  
> My, oh my, oh my, you're incredible  
> Life is not a movie, but it's fantasy with you  
> Life is not a movie, but it's fantasy  
> -ALMA "Starlight"

_Tap_

_Tap_

_Tap_

Moomin felt himself stirred in his cozy bed by the sound of someone’s gentle paws knocking at his window. Despite his comfort he quickly decided that whoever it may be must have a very important for waking him. With that thought he raised himself from the bed, groggily rubbing at his eyes as he made his way to the window.

Moomin was pleasantly surprised when, through still blurry eyes, he sees his best friend standing outside his window. Snufkin stood on the little rope ladder that climbs up to Moomin’s window, eyes peaking out from under his ratty green hat and a warm open smile on his lips as he waited for his friend to open the window up for him.

“Snufkin!” Moomin whispered excitedly, so happy to be surprised, but still mindful that his Mamma and Papa were sleeping not far away from them. He clumsily moved to open the window as quickly and quietly as possible, all the while feeling his heart starting to shift into a familiar light flutter which only increases tenfold upon hearing Snufkin’s voice.

“Hello there, Moomin. Would you like to go on an adventure?” Snufkin asked, in that easy and always collected tone of his.

“Oh you know I would, Snufkin.” Moomin replied, but upon feeling the late fall air roll in he thought of something. “Just let me get my scarf first.”

“Alright, but do be quick, the cards tell me something very special is going to happen tonight.”

Moomin gasped as he began to turn away. “Okay! I won’t keep the cards waiting.”

Snufkin laughed lightly to himself as he watched his friend pull open the drawer on is dresser, quite frantically but still with a great amount of care. Moomintroll certainly was a unique and wonderful being.

With that thought in his mind Snufkin began to descend the rope ladder, deciding to wait for Moomin on the cool damp grass instead, hoping that perhaps the proximity to nature rather than Moomin’s room would calm his heavily beating heart as he thought about his hopes for the night. The cards hadn’t been too specific, but there was one thing he was keeping from his friend.

It wasn’t just something special that the cards said would be revealed tonight, but rather something special to do with love.

Love that he hoped would be shared between he and his Moomin on this night, love that he had been feeling for so long and that he hopes will be returned. A wild and reckless thought flashes through Snufkin’s mind and he glances down at his left paw, imagining for a moment that there is a crimson thread stretching back towards his friend. A shift in the wind snaps him out of it and back to the near-winter weather.

Winter.

Oh, how the last winter had weighed on Snufkin, it was the first he had spent traveling since he fully realized the depth of his feelings. But still, he knew that he must wait for the right time to reveal it to Moomin. A friendship like theirs must be handled delicately in times like these, there’s so much to risk and so much to gain.

He hopes tonight is the right time.

If it is Snufkin knows he won’t be able to leave this winter, not after the last was so very lonely, not if, and the mere thought of it makes his stomach swoop low like the time when he and his friends flew around on the clouds from the Hobgoblin’s hat, not if there is a thin red string stretching between them. No, the reminder of him leaving Moomin all alone in the winter once again would be too much to bear for him.

Snufkin is interrupted from his thoughts by the arrival of Moomin, sliding down the angled roof of Moominhouse’s porch, bundled up in not just a scarf, but also a pair of finely knitted gloves covering his paws.

“Ready to go?” Snufkin asked, ignoring the way his heart throbbed at the sight of Moomin so adorably dressed.

“Yes, of course!” Moomin told him, happy to be on a new adventure with his friend.

The two of them took off into the forest surrounding Moominvalley, over the fishing bridge and past the bramble patches, very far into the distance indeed.

They walked together in companionable silence for a bit before Moomin could take it no longer.

“Where exactly did the cards tell you to go, Snufkin? And why have you brought me with you? Moomin stopped, seemingly startled by his own words. “Not that I’m not glad you brought me with you!”

Snufkin smiled at Moomin, calming him down and making him anxious in a whole new way with just one look.

“Just to the cliffside above the beach, and if whatever I will find out tonight is really that important, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have beside me than you, Moomin.”

Moomin blushed to himself, burrowing his snout as much as possible into his scarf to hide it, but seemed to take Snufkin’s answer well, continuing on walking with him until they reached the rocky cliffside

Once there Snufkin took a seat on the slightly muddy edge, looking out at the choppy waves as they crashed along the light colored sand on the beach below. Moomin clambered up next to him, deliberately keeping a comfortable distance, though Snufkin could still feel the warmth radiating from his fur and onto his coat.

For a while they just sat, Snufkin enjoying the sounds of rushing waters and shaking leaves, and Moomin enjoying Snufkin’s relaxed features as he lounges back, eyes closed and lips slightly parted.

It was quiet, and everything in that moment seemed quite small and manageable to the pair.

Suddenly though, his mood seemed to shift. Snufkin sat up with a huff and furrowed brow.

“What’s wrong?” Moomin asked, curious at the quick shift in his friend’s composure.

If Moomin looked closely enough he would see the light fur on the back of Snufkin’s paws and forearms rising in agitation. Agitation with himself at being too cowardly to come out and say what he had really wanted to. Instead he deflected, trying to get Moomin to ease the way somehow.

He spoke evenly, trying to calm himself from his anxieties.

“There must be something here, the cards said if I come here right before sunrise a matter of great importance would be revealed to me.”

Moomin felt himself shrink a little at Snufkin’s rare display.

“Perhaps, it’s not being revealed because I’m here…”

Snufkin’s eyes widened, that was the furthest possible thing from the truth.

“Well no, that doesn’t sound right at all, in fact some of my greatest realizations have happened while I was around you, and that’s without any word from the cards at all.”

Moomin’s heart started to stutter in fast again, but he didn’t respond.

“Maybe if you tell me about what I missed while I was away this Winter we can figure out what it is I’m supposed to figure out.”

“Oh, but Snufkin I think I’ve told you everything.”

Now Moomin was starting to get nervous, which intrigued Snufkin, wondering what it could possibly me that his friend was hiding from him.

“Everything at all?”

“Yes, Snufkin! I would never keep a secret from you!”

It must be something quite terrible for him to lie outright, knowing how bad he is at it.

“Alright, if you say so.”

Snufkin waited for a beat, carefully avoiding looking at Moomin, and knowing somehow that it would only be a moment more before his friend finally cracks.

“Snorkmaiden and I kissed.”

Snufkin feels his heart stop and then stutter. After a beat he recovers. That was the last thing he had expected Moomintroll to say.

“Oh? And how did that go?”

He tries to keep his tone as neutral as possible, wishing against all odds that he wasn’t too late, that he wasn’t too wrong about this.

“Well, I really wasn’t sure I wanted to, but she asked so nicely and she is my very good friend so I said yes and…I guess I didn’t have anything to worry about after all.”

Snufkin felt his eyes glance down at Moomin’s paw without his own permission. It was a very silly thing to do anyway, as he wouldn’t be able to see the red string that must be drifting back beyond the woods to Snorkmaiden’s house, tethering them together against all else. No, that would be something for only Moomin and Snorkmaiden to share. A joyous and concrete proof of their love hanging between them. Oh, how Snufkin’s heart seemed to ache and throb at the simple thought of it.

“Well, congratulations, Moomin. That must be very exciting for the two of you.” Especially Snorkmaiden, Snufkin doesn’t say out loud, even he can feel the bitterness seeping onto his tongue as he thinks the words. It isn’t Snorkmaiden’s fault that he was so cowardly all these years, and even less so that fate had decided that he just wasn’t meant to have this. Perhaps he was just too much of a free spirit to be tied to anything, no matter how much he may want to in this one instance.

Snufkin watched Moomin’s eyes widen, strangely, out of shock or something of the sort at his simple affirmation.

“Oh no, Snufkin! You have it all wrong, Snorkmaiden is very nice and my very good friend, but she is not the one for me!” Snufkin felt his own eyes mirror Moomin’s as he heard his explanation. He couldn’t believe the words he was hearing and had half a mind to pinch himself just to make sure he hadn’t fallen into one of his strange dreams again. Still, Moomin continued. “You see, I was worried that the string would appear, but after we kissed, nothing happened!”

_Nothing happened._

Snufkin could hardly breathe at the realization that all his assumptions had been wrong, but one thing still didn’t seem right.

“But Moomin, why would you be worried about the string appearing for you and Snorkmaiden?”

Moomin blushed, more sheepish than he usually looked, especially nowadays, he has been so confident as of late.

“W-well I mean, I guess it just wouldn’t be fair to her.” Moomin looks down, his pink cheeks apparent even in the low lighting outside. “Because I like someone else.”

“Oh?” Snufkin asked, trying through his shaky breath and mind to keep his tone in the range of nonchalance.

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

Moomin’s voice sounded so small in that instance and Snufkin wanted nothing more than to cheer him up, but selfishly he knew he wouldn’t forgive himself if he didn’t ask at least one more painful question of his friend.

“And who might that be?”

“What?” Moomin asked, vice still light and tender.

“The person you like, who might it be?”

“Oh, I can’t tell you, Snufkin! It’s much too embarrassing…”

“Well, who could you possibly be embarrassed by, Moomin? You know I wouldn’t tell them if you didn’t want me to.” Snufkin hated himself for being so demanding about this, but he just had to know, had to.

“I would never think you would do that, Snufkin! I wouldn’t think that at all, it’s just…”

“Just what?”

Each moment not knowing hit like a stone to the gut.

“Well you wouldn’t have to tell them, Snufkin…” Moomintroll clasped his gloved paws tight and Snufkin tried not to follow the movement of them. “Because the person I like is…well, it’s you!”

Snufkin didn’t respond, couldn’t. Just stared, wide eyed and slack jawed at the proclamation.

“Oh no, now you see I’m so embarrassed. I’m sorry I told you, can you just pretend I didn’t, and then maybe during Winter we will both forget all about it.”

“Well I hope not, Moomin. In fact, I don’t want to forget a single moment I’ve shared with you. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I’m sure you understand even better than I do, the truth is, I like you too, Moomin.”

Moomin shook his head sadly.

“Oh, I’m sure you do, but that’s the problem I more than like you. I really really like you, as more than just a very good friend, in fact I like you so much that I want nothing more than to kiss you right now.”

“And what if I told you you could.”

Snufkin grasped Moomintrolls paws tightly in his own, causing a wave of red to crash over both of their faces, still Moomin had to make sure.

“I-I could?”

“Yes, you could kiss me right now and I wouldn’t mind at all, in fact I quite think I’d like it very much, Moomin.”

“Well…If you told me that I suppose there’s only one thing I could do, and that would be to kiss you right then and there, Snufkin.”

Snufkin just gave him an expectant look, no longer keeping up the charade or knowing how to, his paws were starting to sweat and he hoped it wasn’t too obvious to his friend how very much he wanted this.

Moomin nodded to himself, only the slightest up and down of his head visible and he leaned in.

And firmly pressed his snout to Snufkin’s nose.

The unexpected action, and the following quick nuzzle Moomin gives to him, flips a switch inside him.

The corners of his mouth upturn and he nearly catches himself, but can’t quite keep it in when Moomin moves away, Snufkin lets out a high, mellifluous giggle. The weight of the night and all of his fears melt away as he laughs openly and freely, paws still clasped with his love.

“Don’t laugh!” Moomin cries.

“I’m sorry, my dear Moomintroll. I couldn’t help myself, I’m just so happy.” Snufkin closes his eyes, calming himself. “May I try something?”

“Yes, of course!” Moomin says, more confused than anything, but still excited to see what Snufkin will do.

He only starts slightly, when he starts by removing his paws, before Snufkin calms him with a light sound.

He moves those paws up, cradling Moomin’s warm soft cheeks before lifting them, tilting his head to just the right angle so that…

Oh.

Moomin melts into the feeling of Snufkin’s warm mouth against his. It’s sweet and lovely, and Snufkin is still smiling enough that Moomin can feel it and smiles in turn.

When they part they are both feeling pleasantly warm and content, falling into a deep embrace, paws curled tightly around each other, not wanting to let go now that they are together like this.

Eventually Snufkin opened his eyes, taking in one long, and hopefully not last, deep breath in of Moomin’s scent before dropping his gaze down.

Snufkin nearly jumps with a start when he takes in the sight of his paws, pressed into the warm white fur of Moomin’s back, but something about them was different. There, nestled beneath the fur but still unmistakable was a thin red string, hanging down from his left pinky in a sight he had only hallucinated before. It reached back and back and back around him where he knew it must connect to the same finger on Moomin’s left paw.

“Moomin…” He whispered, his voice a light note being carried by the breeze, reverent and awed.

“Yes, Snufkin?” Moomin whispered, mouth still pressed into the fabric of Snufkin’s worn yellow scarf.

“Look.” He says simply, pulling his arms back gently and allowing Moomin a moment of confusion before presenting his paw.

Seeing the realization dawn on Moomin’s face was the second best thing Snufkin had seen all day, maybe all his life. He looked, wide eyed at his paw and then his own, taking off the knit glove for good measure and watching how the string hung between the two of them, and Snufkin knew he felt exactly the same way. No room for doubt or fear, this was a semi-physical manifestation of the exact feeling he has deep in the pit of his stomach when he thinks of Moomin, no matter how far he goes or how long he travels, the string, just as his heart, would always keep him in orbit of Moomin. The deep devotion and yearning he felt in the middle of winter, curled up alone in his tent and wondering if he even deserved to go back to Moominvalley after leaving Moomin so cruelly alone. It now had a name and proof, even if it is one only the two of them can see. It is real now, real and seen and known by his dearest friend.

“Oh, Snufkin, this is just perfect!” Moomin said excitedly, “Now when you leave I’ll always be able to find you.”

Snufkin felt his stomach drop slightly at the reminder.

“I’m sure you could, Moomin.” Snufkin nodded, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. “But let’s save that for next winter.”

“You mean…”

“I think I’ll be staying in Moominvalley this winter. I’m quite looking forward to seeing what the sea looks like covered in snow. Besides, it wouldn’t do to leave my soulmate alone right after finding him.” Snufkin tried so hard to keep from stuttering over the first mention of the word. But that’s what they were, that’s who he was to him.

_Soulmates._

_His soulmate._

“Snufkin!” Moomin exclaimed, pushing himself impossibly closer to Snufkin and burying his face in the warm yellow of his scarf for the second time.

When he lifts his head a moment later his eyes are wet, the sight of which did not help Snufkin’s attempts to calm himself.

“Do you really mean it, Snufkin?” Moomin asked, searching his face for any sign, however unlikely, of some kind of joke. “I know how you need your freedom, and I wouldn’t want you to think you have to give that up for me now.”

“Thank you, Moomin, but it just so happens that I wasn’t planning on leaving this winter anyway.”

“You weren’t?”

“No, this year I thought I’d stay. You see, I used to think that staying in one place would mean I would lose myself to it. But I’ve already settled myself down, here with you and our friends in Moominvalley, and I haven’t lost myself at all. In fact, I feel most like myself when I’m with you. The more I thought about leaving this year the more upset I made myself. The hardest part about leaving is how sad I feel about how sad I’ve made you feel.”

“But-Snufkin, you know I understand how you need your time. It makes me sad of course, but I would never ask you to stay if you didn’t want to, no matter how sad it might make me.”

“But that’s just it, Moomin, the last thing I’d want is to make you sad again. Now that I have you, truly and openly, I want to spend the rest of my existence making you as happy as I can.”

“Oh, Snufkin.” Moomin melts into him again, nuzzling into his neck and whispering into his ear, making the soft fur on his neck stand up. “That’s all I want too.”

Snufkin felt tears of his own well up at that. He wanted to curl up, impossibly small, and melt into the softness of Moomin’s body, to live in this one moment, safe and warm and protected by the little pocket of love they have created on the rocky cliffside, to never let go as long as it kept them happy.

But the sun peaking up from the horizon had other ideas, and soon they would be surrounded by other inhabitants of Moominvalley, looking and talking and asking questions. But still, they would be together.

Their future would be filled with pancakes and scarfs, with adventure and discovery, with music and laughter, with everything they could ever want or ever need. It would be filled with each other.

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a post on tumblr about how there is a lack of soulmate AUs for Snufmin, and well it is my brand. Let me know if you want more of this, I'm so on this Moomin's hype train right now! I love these soft boys!!


End file.
